We have eventually come up with some form of solution in basically the outline of the gentleman from Massachusetts. but I think a better approach is the one that the gentleman from New York. the gentleman from Georgia. and the gentleman from Kentucky have introduced. which would cause there to be a generic form of legislation. not designating countries and people but designating situations and characteristics. which. if fulfilled. would then yield the kind of relief which is designed for people who suffer from temporary dislocation because of environmental problems. because of random warfare. or because of some other kind of generalized violence. The goal is not to specifically set up a country. We tried to set up countryspecific ways of handling refugee status. and we found prior to 1980 that did not work. So in 1980 we passed the Refugee Act which sets up specific characteristics. So whether you are far from a country with whom we had relations or not. with whom we are friendly or not. that is immaterial. you then qualify as a refugee. I suggest that we are going down a very difficult path here in which we select nations because of political or other kinds of factors and then we say those people qualify and other ones do not. I would suggest that we should get to the day soon when we will pass a piece of generic legislation which will then solve the problem in a more scholarly fashion.
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